Method of working the air-pump and using a condensing as a non-condensing engine



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

R. P. LoPnn, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD 0F WORKING THE AIR-PUMP AND USING A CONDENSING AS A NON-CONDENSING ENGINE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 6,673, dated August 28, .1849.

.To aZZ whom t may concern.-

Be it known that l, R. F. LOPER, of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam-Engines and their Application to Propellers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the principle or character which distinguishes them from al1 other things before known, and of the usual manner of making, modifying, and using the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure lis a side elevation. Fig. 2 is a rear view, Fig. 3 a top plan, and Fig. 4 a side elevation, of adouble engine; Fig. 5, a front View with a portion of the vessel.

The same letters refer to like parts in all the drawings and figures.

The nature of my improvement consists in the arrangement of the engine within a vessel for propelling, and the peculiar combination of the air-pump therewith, together with the method of converting the engine at once into a condensing or non-condensing apparatus.

The construction and arrangement of the parts are as follows: A suitable bed -plate, a, so shaped as to t the vessel at the stern just above the keelson, or at a sufficient height above it for the purpose intended, is firmly secured in place by suitable bolts and braces. To this bed-plate are affixed the bearings b of the shaft b of the propeller, and to the same plate all the other parts of the engine are attached. An iron frame, c, is affixed to the front end of the plate, on the top of which the cylinder d is situated. This cylinder is reversed from the ordinary posi` tion of engines, the piston-rod running` down through the lowerhead and connecting, by the usual connecting-rod, e, with the crank b on the shaft below. The valves of this engine take their motion from eccentrics f f on the main shaft, coupled with a small valvelever, g, by proper eccentric-rods, h. The 1ever is affixed to its axis by its center, and is made double, so that the eccentric-rod can be thrown to either end to reverse the motion, or may be wholly detached, as in ordinary engines. iis the axis of the valve-lever; k,

the valve-stem connected therewith, and k the valve-box. The cut-off is worked by another eccentric, Z, on the same shaft, and needs no further description. The pump m is connected directly with the cross-head it of the engine and works in the ordinary way. By this connection I obtain compactness in its introduction. Upon the main shaft, in a proper position, I placca pinion, o, that gears into a wheel of double the diameter of said pinion, to which wheel a connecting-rod, p, is connected by a wrist projecting from the fan of said wheel. rIhis connectingrod is attached at the upper end to one end of a small working-beam, q, which is made to bear on proper supporters, r, affixed to the bed, and at the opposite end of the beam there is a connection with the piston-rod of an airpump, s. This air;pump communicates with the condenser t, into which the exhaust-pipe t opens. An escape-pipe, u, is also connected with the bottom of the condenser, which, when open, allows the steam to escape without condensing. This opening can at any time be closed or opened by a stop-cock, lu, and the apparatus at once changed into either a condensing or non-condensing engine without stopping the machinery, so that if the engine is working the condenser and the airpump or condenser should .fail it is at once converted into a non-condensing-engine. In Fig. 5 this pipe u is represented by red lines and shows its exit at the side of the vessel below deck. At the termination of the steampipe the valve box has a stop-cock, fw, or other fixture to stop off the steam from the engine. The two last figures (4 and 5) show two engines working on the same shafts. In other respects these figures are like the two first. The other parts of the apparatus not described are in construction like those of the ordinary engine, only adapted to the change of position which they are here made to assume and which any competent enginebuilder understands how to modify.

By the above described construction of parts it will be seen that the air-pump has one action for every two of the piston of the engine, by which means I am enabled to increase the size of the cylinder and reduce the rubbing surfaces. the valves one-half, which in practice is found I also reduce the action of 2. The arrangement for converting the engine into a condensing or non-condensing engine by opening or closing a free vent for the steam from the condenser, as set forth.

, R. F. LOPER.

Witnesses:

WM. GREENOUGH, C. BURCHARDT. 

